Self-righting post



E. W. CONGDON, JR.

SELF RIGHTING POST.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 26.1921.

Patented Aug. 1", 1922.

INVENTO Ell lafffl Cozzyriozz, J/:

W k244i! ATTORNEYS NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST W. GONG-DON, JR, 0F GLEN RIDGE, NEW JERSEY.

SELF-RIGHTING POST.

Application filed July 26, 1921. Serial No. 487,646.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST W. CONGDON, Jr., citizen of the United States, residin at Glen Ridge, Essex County, State of ew Jersey, have invented a new and useful Self-Righting Post, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to portable selfrighting posts and is primarily intended to be employed as a means for controlling street-trafiic.

Various types of posts have hitherto been used in directing street-traflic, usually being, placed upon the streets to mark offparking spaces, and at street intersections to designate the course to be pursued by trafiic in crossing, making turns and the like.

Posts for such purposes ordinarily comprise an upright portion. mounted on a weighted standard, so that they may be moved about as they are needed or set out of the way when not in use. When such posts are set upon the roadway used by vehicles, it frequently occurs that passing ve hicles will run into and upset them, whereby the fallen posts become an obstruction instead of an aid to trafiic, and their usefulness is destroyed until they are picked up. Very often these posts are placed at unattended corners, and when knocked down'remain as an obstruction for considerable periods. Again, when posts carrying a lantern are upset, the lantern is usually broken.

It is the principal object of this invention to provide a post suitable for use in directing street-traffic which overcomes the disadvantages of existing posts by automatically rising to its normal position whenever it is upset.

A further object is to provide a combined self-righting post and lamp, which maybe moved about as desired and which is ardamage to both vehicle and Standing upon the roadway 1 is a selfr ghtingpost comprising .in general a base 2 and an upright 3. The base preferably consists of a single relatively thin metal casting 4 the lower half of which has the shape of an ellipsoid of high eccentricity, while the upper half of the casting is continued inwardly and upwardly to the circular mouth The base is preferably. of such a equator of the shell 4 will be approximately at the same height from the pavement as that of thehubs of vehicles, such as automobiles. An equatorial belt 22 of rope, rubber or the like may, if desired, be applied to lessen the shock of impact at this point, be ing held in place in a recess as shown.

The upright 3 is secured to its base in any convenient mannep but it has been found most desirable to secure the upright detachably. In the embodiment shown, in which the invention is applied to a lamp post, the upright consists of a, rigid tube 3 threaded at its lower end to a cap 7. The cap 7 has a downwardly turned flange threaded to cooperate with threads on the outer eriphery of the mouth 5 of the standard. bus, the

tube 3 with its cap 7 may be removed from the base as a unit when access to the mouth 5 is desired. At the upper end of the tube 3 there is mounted a cage 8 comprising'an upper ring 9 and a base-plate 10 connected by a number of rods 11. Within the cage there is provided a lamp of any well known type of which the glass globe 12 is shown. This globe may be colored red or otherwise to attract the attention of vehicle operators. The ring 9 is protected by a suitable covering 13 of elastic material, such as vulcanized rubber.

To house the supply of fuel or power for the lamp there is provided a cylindrical container 14 having a flanged upper margin 15, which normally rests on a shoulder pro vided as shown on the inner periphery of the mouth- 5. The cylinder may contain gas or liquid fuel, or an electric battery, suitable connections to the lamp passing through the tubular stem 3. When a tight joint between the container 14 and cap 7 is desired a suitable gasket 16 may be placed upon the upper face of the flanged portion 15.

In order to give access to the interior of the standard without .the necessity of re moving the cap and fuel container, as to switch the lamp on or off, there may be'provided a number of hand-holes having covers 17, which are held in place by threads cooperating with the threaded margins of the hand-holes. To serve the double purpose of facilitating the removal of the cover 17 or to move the entire lamp, the handles 18 are secured to the outside of the cover. If desired, one or more additional handles 19 may be secured directly to the casting.

Referring to the stability of the post as a whole it will be convenient to consider a dotted line AA running vertically upward from the normal pointof support 20 through the center of tube 3 and defined as the axis of the post. From the foregoing description it is obvious that the-centerof gravity of the system will lie in or very close to this axis and below the u per surface of the weighted portion 6. f the base is struck by a vehicle or otherwise upset to the position shown at the left in dotted lines, it is obvious that the reaction with the roadway will be in the direction of the vertical dotted line BB, the intersection of which line with the axis may be defined as the metacenter of the post indicated at M. In all positions occupied by the post between that when the first imperceptible deviation from normal position takes place and that when the post is in its extreme upset position with the covering 13 in contact with the roadway, the metacenter M will be farther removed from the point 20 along the axis of the post than is the center of gravity. It therefore follows that no matter how much the post is tilted over from its normal position there will always be acouple acting upwardly through the metacenter and downwardly through the center of gravity tending to right the post, which will therefore at all times return to its normal position after an initial shock has ceased to act on it.

When a vehicle strikes the base in the neighborhood of its equator, it merely spins the post upon its axis, when the impact is at a point removed from the equator the post yields, but returns to its normal position as soon as the exterior force is removed. It will be noted that in addition to returning to upright normal position, the post will be returned to substantially the same position on the pavement in which it was. It will not move about and et into a Wrong place so as to improperly dlrect traffic. The shape of the base is such that as the post yields and its axis is inclined from the vertical, the distance between the line of upward thrust of the ground and the downward force act ing through the center of gravity increases, so that the farther the post is tilted the greater is the couple tending to right the post. Thus it is evident that seldom if ever 'Will there be a strong enough impact to force the post to its extreme upset position, and the covering 13 will seldom come in contact with the ground. It is therefore possible to use various types of light which would be liable to fractures in a less stable post, and the number of replacements required is small.

While one embodiment of the invention has been described in detail, it is to be understood that this is merely for the sake of clearness and not to limit the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

What'l claim is:

1. In a self-righting trafiic post, adapted for use on the surface of pavements, and the like, the combination with a base comprising a shell having a rotund weighted bottom extending upwardly and inwardly to form a mouth, a cover for the mouth, a container adapted to contain a supply of stored energy within the base, a lamp, a long slender upright projecting from the cover to support the lamp, and devices to operatively connect the lamp to the supply of energy.

2. In a self-righting trafiic post, adapted for use on the surface of pavements, and the like, the combination with a base having a mouth, a container adapted to contain a supply of stored energy within the base and supported at said mouth, a cover for the mouth, a lamp, a long slender upright stem of light weight secured to the cover to support the lamp, and devices to operatively connect said lamp to said supply of stored energy.

3. In a lamp post, a base, an upright stem detachably secured to the base and a cage mounted on the stem, said cage comprising a base plate adapted to support a source of illumination, a ring through which such source may be inserted while said cage remains mounted on the stem, and a number of rods secured to said base to support said ring.

4. In a lamp post, a base, an upright stem detachably secured to the base and a cage mounted on the stem, said cage comprising a base plate adapted to support a source of illumination, a ring through which such source may be inserted, and a number of rods secured to said base to support said ring, said ring being provided with an elastic protective covering to soften the impact of said ring with the ground.

5. In a lamp post, a base comprising a metal shell having a rotund weighted bottom extending upwardly and inwardly to form a mouth, a container adapted to contain a supply of stored energ supported from the inner periphery of t e mouth, a

cover for the mouth, a lamp, and a tubular stem detach-ably secured to the cover .to afford operative connection between the 0011- tainer and the lamp.

6. A self-righting post having a base portion comprising a casting having an ellipsoidal outer lower surface, a mass of metal concentrated at the bottom of the casting, the casting having upwardly and inwardly sloping walls to provide a constricted opening or mouth at the top, and being hollow L above the said mass of concentrated metal, a

cover for the mouth, a standard fastened to and extending upwardly from the cover, and a lamp fastened to the to of the standard.

7. A self-righting post aving a base portion comprising a casting having an ellipan energy storing container within the mouth and extending into the said hollow space, a cover for the mouth for holding the container in place, a standard fastened to, and

extending upwardly from, the cover, a lamp on the top of the standard, and inner connections for lighting the lamp from the energy supply source.

ERNEST W. CONGDON, JR. 

